[Week 5, Tuesday: Belph]

[doublecrows]

[SUP BELPH. it's just the detective you wanted to see!!]

Did you enjoy your week off?

Comments

[axilium]

Okay.

That's helpful.

[doublecrows]

[okay FINE, if he wants Belph's cooperation he has to be good]

. . . to put it simply, Hikage-san is much like myself.

[axilium]

Are you talking about Blotter or Historian stuff, or this is a reference to Hikage's shady side?

[doublecrows]

He isn't a Historian, and if I'm right about the two blotters from the previous week, he isn't related to them, either.

Rather, I'm talking about his "shady side."

[AIR QUOTES]

[axilium]

Right... Well, I'll throw him on the list of suspects. I didn't know the two of you were friends, though.

[doublecrows]

Allies.

[Akechi corrects, almost too quickly. something flickers on his expression, brow wrinkled in irritation, before it vanishes]

. . . he assisted me after my true face was revealed to the population of this castle.

[axilium]

[well, he won't comment on akechi's friend issues.]

What, he saw you as a kindred spirit or something?

[doublecrows]

[. . . . .]

I can't comment on what was going through his head at the time. But he offered me protection.

I would have been a fool not to take it.

[axilium]

Protection?

[doublecrows]

It wasn't much.

That gun at his hip. He allowed me its use on Thursday night, just in case.

[axilium]

... Wow. He must really like you, or whatever.

[doublecrows]

[whatever!1]

He's-- [just. pauses and frowns again, looking conflicted, before he shakes it off]

At any rate, there is more to Hikage-san than what he has shown the castle at large.

[. . .]

Tiger-san gave me another piece of advice during my questioning of her, too.

[axilium]

Shoot.

[doublecrows]

I told her I only wished to understand the truth behind the loophole I discovered.

[and he recites another phrase, like he's quoting Tiger again]

"Because I think you'll feel more personally satisfied with figuring it out on your own, and because you're such a brilliant boy, I'll tell you that I think you already have enough individual pieces of the truth you're looking for to be able to connect them together."

[axilium]

And? What's the verdict, detective?

[doublecrows]

Tiger-san is obnoxiously vague.

[aha]

Truthfully? I believed you were lying to me. You never did give me the specifics of how your second role worked.

[axilium]

[he places a hand over his chest.]

I'm hurt! Besides, you were vague about how a Historian worked too.

[doublecrows]

Shall we rectify both of those problems now?

[axilium]

We can try.

[doublecrows]

I've already told you the majority of how my second title works. We are players form a previous game, survivors drawn into this one to encourage the completion of objectives. There are five of us-- we originally had no idea who the other four were, as our memories of the previous game had been stripped from us.

Now that we've found each other, every week during our meeting with the Crafters, we regain one memory from the previous game.

I imagine our role in this war game is reflected in our title: we are to encourage the completion of everyone's objectives, while trying to piece together the stories of the past. For every objective we help see through, the Crafters will answer questions about this game and the one prior.

There isn't much else to it.

[axilium]

[...]

Mine is pretty much what you've probably figured out. I get to confirm one person each week: I learn which faction they belong to and whether or not they have an additional role.

I get half an answer to my question if I correctly nail a role; I get another half of an answer if I figure out what role they have, exactly.

[he shrugs.]

If I don't hit a role, and if I didn't get anyone to 'fess up anything over the past week, then my weekly meeting with the Crafters is pretty useless.

[doublecrows]

[Akechi nods]

Who here have you confirmed to have a second role? For that information, I'll tell you about the last two memories the Historians received.

[axilium]

Sousei. [he doesn't need to explain the results of that one.] Souji and Ion—the passive-aggressive one—are clear.

I hit another role this week, but I'll be talking to them first. Can't give you their name yet.

[doublecrows]

[. . . . . lol]

All right.

[. . .]

Last Monday, our memory was of a masked ball. There was a girl at the ball, dressed in pink silk. She was yelling at someone-- "don't think you can just stand in the corner the whole time; you're dancing even if I have to drag you out there myself"-- and her voice was. . . familiar.

I believe it was the girl who screamed in our earlier memory. The one in which Tiger-san was stabbed.

[axilium]

... You actually did not mention a screaming girl before?